Since former horse rider, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo wrote to the current horse rider, President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB) to dismount, go home and rest and forget about 2019 re-election, the nations political environment has been abuzz.Obasanjo was until recently not in support of the agitation for Nigerias restructuring.

He made a U-turn just a few days before releasing his open letter, putting down the Buhari government he helped to set up. And it was the same Obasanjo who only in December last year said Buhari had not disappointed him. So, what has happened within a few weeks to make Obasanjo turn 360 degrees, giving a damning verdict against PMB? You may say that it is characteristic of the Owu retired general to make capital of every opportunity, particularly regarding Nigeria’s leadership. Obasanjo will always dictate the tune, if allowed the opportunity. What he has done in the present situation was to aggregate the frustrations and cries of Nigerians about the Buhari government and to seek to be the captain,  setting the agenda and dictating the pace. We cannot, however, overlook the fact that he was instrumental to choices and directions that the nation had taken several times in the past that culminated in the mess the nation is still to recover from today. I don’t blame Obasanjo for always wanting to be in the spotlight. It’s like a survival tonic for him. I only sympathise with President Buhari who chose to play mute to cries of the people and their yearnings, while harping on his achievements. Even after Obasanjo’s letter, the response from the government is to praise its achievements.

I had stated in this column in the past that the government was right to harp on its achievements and truly, they are achievements that cannot be wished away. In the same manner, the Jonathan government also had a long list of achievements before the 2015 general elections. But the most important thing is, are Nigerians judging the government by those achievements? How are the achievements helping to correct the negative perception already formed by the people? How are the achievements helping to change the impression that the government is incompetent, nepotic, uncaring and its spokespersons arrogant?

While running the government the way it deems right, should the administration not take into consideration genuine concerns and yearnings of the people? 

For instance, in the list of achievements that Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed said Obasanjo was too busy to notice, he mentioned foreign reserves as peaking at $40billion, saving N24.7billion monthly with the full implemetation of the Treasury Single Account (TSA), saving N120billion through elimination of ghost workers, capital inflows in the second quarter of 2017 rising to $1.8billion from $908billion in the first quarter of the year. These and other figures given by the minister are achievements really, but what do the statistics mean to the ordinary man in the street who is out of job, cant feed his family and is comtemplating suicide?

The government also listed generation of 7,000mw of power as an achievement. But how is this an achievement to citizens who are still contributing money to buy transformers, which electricity distribution companies should have provided? What sense does 7,000mw make to electricty consumers who have no prepaid meters and are compelled to pay ridiculous estimated bills by the DISCOs?

The Buhari government promised to fight corruption. The citizens concern is not that the government is fighting the scourge, but why a former national security adviser, Ibrahim Dasuki would remain in detention in defiance of court rulings, while some other former top government functionaries are being shielded from arrest by government officials who are supposed to be fighting corruption. The government is seen as treating its supporters with kid gloves, while hitting sledge hammer on opposition figures. Can this perception be wished away?

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) took the former secretary to the government of the federation, Mr. Babachir Lawal into custody only after Obasanjo released his damning letter. What a curious coincidence!

Nigerians are yearning for restructuring. The president doesn’t share in this aspiration. He believes there’s nothing wrong with the structure of the country, but the process. The ruling party set up a committee on the same issue. The committee’s report came again only after Obasanjo’s letter.

President Buhari must know that being rigid on matters that require shifting even if a little would have helped him and his government. He had also stuck rigidly to his positions on other national matters, including the removal of fuel subsidy that required urgent resolution, only to yield after so much suffering had been inflicted on the citizens and wrong perception formed about the government. We’re in another season of lingering fuel shortages‭.‬

What about the perceived inter-agency rivalry particularly between the Department of State Services (DSS) and the EFCC? The president had maintained an undignified silence that has left the citizens in doubt about whether he has control over his aides.

Related News

The perception of clannishness and nepotism has also stuck and the administration has given no indication it realized how concerned Nigerians are about such matters.

But by far the most damaging to the image of the Buhari government and from which it must wriggle out fast is the herders’ menace. While it had done quite well with the Boko Haram insurgency, watching helplessly as killings of innocent citizens by criminal gangs masquerading as herdsmen escalate and giving excuses that the menace didnt just start is unfortunate.

The president hasn’t demonstrated sufficient leadership on this crisis. All said,  I sympathise with Buhari. Why? I know he has integrity. He isn’t a thief. He means well for the country, but he just appears either overwhelmed by the challenges or is too slow to react and when he does, falls short of the expectations of the people. As for 2019, I won’t join Obasanjo in calling Buhari to step aside. I would rather Nigerians decide whether they still want the president to continue in office in a free and fair election.

Maybe the title of this article should rather have been ‘I sympathise with Nigerians’ because ultimately we are the losers, when virtually all the people who emerge as our leaders: the good, the bad and the ugly fail to meet yearnings of the citizens.

Re: Herdsmen’s annual killing ritual

Dear Abdulfatah, thank you very much for the courage you exhibited while writing on this nagging Fulani herdsmen’s menace. There is no doubt that the perpetrators are enjoying official protection from a very high level of authority. Otherwise, why should the arms of government charged with the responsibility to keep law and order look so helpless in the face of this routine genocidal kind of massacres. IPOB merely carried flags while demonstrating in the South East and South South without any reported instance of violence and they were branded terrorists and scores of them were cut down by the security forces. And now a group of people have taken it upon themselves to visit murder, mayhem and arson on fellow citizens while sleeping in their homes in their ancestral villages with impunity and all we hear is an order for the Inspector General of the Police to relocate to Benue. The real irony is that it is not as if the people behind the whole horror are hidden. Miyetti Allah as a group has come out openly to say why the killings took place and even vowed that the anti-open grazing law enacted by the Benue State Government will not work unless grazing fields are first allocated to them. Really? The way they carry on suggests that they are above the law; and this is an obvious blight on this administration. As it is now, who would blame the Igbo man or the South South indigenes for crying marginalization. Other Nigerians are everywhere in Nigeria doing their businesses quietly in their hired warehouses, shops and factories and coexisting peacefully with their host communities and even going further to develop such communities.  And that is the norm acceptable in civilized environments. Why then should the case of the cattle breeders be different? If you kill everyone in a bid to find space for your business, who will be your customers; dead men and women? This is the more reason why Nigeria must be restructured to loosen this choking unitary system wearing a federal toga. Progress and development have eluded us in this country simply because some people still habour the retrogressive mentality of lording it over other people. If this country must be one and fit into the standards of modern and progressive states, the  Federal Government should rise up to its primary responsibilities of catering for the wellbeing of its citizens no matter their religion, tribe and region. It must punish criminal acts no matter who commits them to deter those with criminal tendencies and it must be seen to be fair to all. Otherwise, it will be perceived to be encouraging self-help, which obviously will lead to anarchy. God forbid. Thanks. Emma Okoukwu.

It is unfortunate that the spate of herdsmen’s annual killing ritual has defied stoppage by Federal Government. You have summed it up correctly. By the way, is cattle rearing a Federal Government Corporation on the Exclusive List of the Constitution? Where is God? Pictures of blood flow in Benue State is painful. –Tony Enyinta, Isuikwuato, Abia State.

Abdul, is the CDS a decorative post in Nigeria in view of the CiC’s silence? –Adamu

Herdsmen killing innocent people in Benue State without any arrest is very sympathetic. It is very painful and sad indeed. Security agents should ensure perpetrators and masterminds are arrested and brought to book to deter others who may engage in same act in future. PMB should take proactive action on security matter because the insecurity has made Nigeria to become a laughing stock in the international community. l condole with families of victims. –Gordon  Nnorom.

Abdulfatah, only a dumb mind would pretend not to know that the criminal activities of the herdsmen are backed by the government headed by President Buhari. Reading your factual piece with true data of the fulani herdsmen’s senseless activities, in different forms, brazen killings of farmers and mindless destruction of their farms, the only means of their livelihood, kidnapping and highway robberies, without arrest of a single culpable “Fulani herdsman” since 2015 when Buhari became president of Nigeria backed by deceptive and fraudulent barking of PMB’s government, it is obvious that the whole exercise was a planned ploy by PMB and his Fulani killer herders to colonise Nigeria and use other Nigerians and their landscape as property of the Fulani tribe. What does one make of such a dream, in the 21st century world other than a primitive venture which could be led only by cranial malfunction that needs fast medical surgery before Nigeria is thrown into an endless tribal massive killings across board. There are so many Fulanis in my area who are so cordial in relationship with other tribes, like belonging to the same family, and that has lasted for over 30 years or more. It might not be wrong to assume that the “Fulani herdsmen” on rampage are those in the trade, whose main aim is to subjugate others for their personal benefits. What a selfish and senseless inkling! The level of sophistication of arms carried by these “Fulani herdsmen” as reported, suggests subtly that it might not be wrong to assume that they belong to a special squad set aside for the purpose. And if the head of cattle breeders could say publicly that Fulani herdsmen’s killings are reprisal actions, what more does PMB need to know the culprits and take necessary action? May God save Nigeria, Amen.

–Lai Ashadele.